solar revolution!

[Guest guest]

OH GLORY!!!

 

I just saw this guy speak up on campus... it's the real deal. Solar

and hyrdogen companies in Europe are talking with the MIT group, the

emir of Dubai has pledged billions to build a carbon neutral city for

50,000 in the desert, they are taking this to the developing world

first, but look for affordable home systems here in 5 to 10

years---if; manufacturers take the bit and run and the government and

big business allow it to happen--which is why they are taking it to

the third world first.

 

one problem;--the platinum catalyst is expensive and they are working

on finding a different metal--the hard part was getting the cobalt

system worked out.

 

and another benefit: this system will run in salt water and will

actually provide pure fresh water in addition to electricity.

 

Ellen

--

" Just think about this: In four months, we will have an administration

that actually believes in science! "

Mark Warner

 

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Major Discovery " From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution

Thursday 31 July 2008

 

»

by: Anne Trafton, MIT News

 

 

MIT's Professor Daniel G. Nocera has discovered a way to do large-

scale solar power generation. (Photo: Donna Coveney)

Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system.

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a

marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT

researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power:

storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

 

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source,

because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively

expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement, MIT

researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient

process for storing solar energy.

 

Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this

discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of

all: the sun. " This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about

for years, " said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of

Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the

July 31 issue of Science. " Solar power has always been a limited, far-

off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as

unlimited and soon. "

 

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and

Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed

an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used

to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and

hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free

electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

 

The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is a new

catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst

produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt

metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity -

whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source -

runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film

on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

 

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce

hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting

reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

 

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water,

and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. " That's why I know this is going

to work. It's so easy to implement, " he said.

 

" Giant Leap " for Clean Energy

 

Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve

the world's energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight

strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one

year.

 

James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis who was not

involved in this research, called the discovery by Nocera and Kanan a

" giant leap " toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive

scale.

 

" This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the

future prosperity of humankind, " said Barber, the Ernst Chain

Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. " The importance

of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for

developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our

dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change

problem. "

 

" Just the Beginning "

 

Currently available electrolyzers, which split water with

electricity and are often used industrially, are not suited for

artificial photosynthesis because they are very expensive and require

a highly basic (non-benign) environment that has little to do with the

conditions under which photosynthesis operates.

 

More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new

scientific discovery into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera

said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.

 

" This is just the beginning, " said Nocera, principal investigator

for the Solar Revolution Project funded by the Chesonis Family

Foundation and co-Director of the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center. " The

scientific community is really going to run with this. "

 

Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to

power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using

excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own

household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could

be a thing of the past.

 

The project is part of the MIT Energy Initiative, a program

designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs

of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving

today's energy systems. MITEI Director Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida

Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, noted that " this

discovery in the Nocera lab demonstrates that moving up the

transformation of our energy supply system to one based on renewables

will depend heavily on frontier basic science. "

 

The success of the Nocera lab shows the impact of a mixture of

funding sources - governments, philanthropy, and industry. This

project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the

Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to

launch the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large

scale deployment of solar energy within 10 years.